Honest Bite (诚实一口) is a Chinese pet food brand whose revenue passed one billion yuan in 2024 — a 166-fold increase in five years — and it ranked third on Taobao's cat staple-food chart. In April 2026 it signed its first celebrity spokesperson ever, actor Hao Yiran, calling the choice 'a well-considered decision'.
On 16 April 2026, in the brand's own official livestream, a contracted host said of the new face: 'I don't know him at all', 'hideously ugly', 'a third-tier star' — and misread his name as 'Hao Yanran'. The clips spread immediately and 'Honest Bite apology' climbed the trending lists.
The brand apologised that night ('we let everyone down'), shut down the livestream room, cut ties with the host and promised strict accountability for the management team; the founder followed with a video apology calling it 'a grave dereliction of management'. Within 24 hours, Hao Yiran's agency Heguang Media terminated all cooperation and revoked all authorisations, saying the incident 'seriously violated the core agreement on respecting the artist's rights and maintaining his image' and 'already constituted fundamental breach'. The brand's first ambassador deal was dead in a day.
The host's insult voided the ambassador deal in 24 hours, costing the brand its first celebrity partnership and forcing a public apology.
A livestream room is a channel the brand controls; handing the mic to a host hostile to the campaign's own face is a casting failure inside the brand, not outside it
The brand's scale raised the stakes: at a billion yuan of revenue, a first celebrity deal is a strategic bet, and the apology played out in front of the exact customers the ambassador was hired to win
The agency moved fast because the respect clause is the core of an artist contract — a public insult from the brand's own channel is the clearest breach there is
Endorsement risk is not only the star you sign, but every mouthpiece that speaks for the brand. One hostile host inside your own stream can void the contract faster than any scandal outside it.
Honest Bite apologised twice, halted the livestream room and promised management accountability; Heguang Media terminated all cooperation and revoked all authorisations, citing the respect clauses. It was the brand's second public controversy in four months — in late January, a collaborating blogger had been accused of mistreating a cat. No replacement spokesperson was announced; the flagship stores kept selling, but the campaign built around the first celebrity face was gone.
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